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Shang Tsung General Discussion

SixPathsOfHate

Make triple skulls input BDF or DF Hold F
For those who didnt know already. You can OS Ground Skull>Ground Skull pick ups since the recovery is longer when Blocked vs getting the hit. It makes confirming those Far Ground Skulls so much easier.
 

xBlaze_13

Y NO CHAMELEON!?
I definitely did NOT know that. Thank you for sharing. Also I completely forgot to share the Vs Smoke replays, they are overwritten now....
 

Felipe_Gewehr

Twinktile
Currently, my biggest problem vs Shang players is when they start jumping back and using air skull as the old version. I can't seem to punish that, ever. Is it punishable on block?
 
Currently, my biggest problem vs Shang players is when they start jumping back and using air skull as the old version. I can't seem to punish that, ever. Is it punishable on block?
i guess that would depend on who you are playing hah.I guess reptile by the pfp.

have you tried to IaFF?
 

Felipe_Gewehr

Twinktile
i guess that would depend on who you are playing hah.I guess reptile by the pfp.

have you tried to IaFF?
I play Reptile and Mileena. I havent been able to just ball roll on reaction or just dash with reptile as a punish when they land. If I try to jump after them, most of the time they will just stay slightly out of reach and I will get caught by the fire skulls
 
I play Reptile and Mileena. I havent been able to just ball roll on reaction or just dash with reptile as a punish when they land. If I try to jump after them, most of the time they will just stay slightly out of reach and I will get caught by the fire skulls
if he is doing instant air fire ball in old form you dont block the fire ball,but instead have to react to tbe jump and do the dash to punish,you can also instant air falling fangs to punish.the instant air fire ball is the toughest to punish but can be done,any other timing is an easy dash or instant air falling fangs.As with everything online dealy is going to make it much easier for shang to abuse this esp if he can do IA timing.Offlile you should be able to react,test it in traing mode,and play around with offline input delay to see how you do.
 

LEGEND

YES!
That's something I just might have to do. But I hate the idea of needing to switch your setup to win.
Its a small boost. I wouldn't say its necessary. But even if it was, its better than the alternative of having to change characters entirely.
 

Marinjuana

Up rock incoming, ETA 5 minutes
How do you guys deal with zoning Reikos? Is this one of those situations where I have to switch kameos?
I think having old skulls makes it tougher for him to out spam you and if he's running Sub then he shouldn't be too scary of a character to play closer against
 

LEGEND

YES!
Has anyone messed with Shang/Darrius after the recent patch? I've been kinda underwhelmed by Kameo options for Shang but Darrius might have some potential.

Being able to force a mix on all the little hits like Young F3, Old F32, B4, throw, or all the random non-hit confirmed ground skulls feels pretty nice, and the +50 health isn't bad either. Also, you can still make poke->special safe if you have to.

Still gotta test if you can reliably combo off his Armor or if the old overhead drop move is worth the damage drop to set up. But even that aside he feels like a solid boost to Shang's offense.
 

Agilaz

It has begun
Tremor stuff #2

Gold Ball is good move in general to add to the kit, particularly for zoning. I like to throw out a gold ball here and there and let it recharge back to full bar for the ambush stuff. Ambush Gold Ball is excellent with fireball zoning and can be a decent thing to throw out after Injection. Basically just do anything, time the ambush low ball and continue your pressure.

Metallic FK has a few active frames and can be extra plus on knockdown while launching. Probably the easiest of his tools to get plus frames with and it launches(Not a combo unless ambush).

Aftershock BK can be a nice sneaky long range low but the ambush is particularly strong, again working well with his zoning in a midscreen range but also giving access to all these cheeky resets and pressure.

Tremor can ambush to make Young Shang claws safe like some other kameos. Metallic's FK or Aftershock's Straight Punch are always one switch away. You could also put up Crystal armor. You can combo from it the armors in the corner for like 220.

You can combo from Injection or EX Injection using Ambush Up Rock Punch or Metallic's options.

You can also use Tremor ambush to launch from a string while you cancel into Form Change or EX Form Change. Haven't found a great reason to use either this or the Injection one but I would think there's some good stuff across the cast.

You know that Crystalline Armor changes the hit reaction you take but you might not be considering that it prevents you from being captured or knocked down by projectiles. Stuff like Rain's Puddle and Water Gun, Scorpion Spear, Ice Ball.. all limited when you have that up. You can win more trades with fireballs.

Tremor has some of the projectile wall qualities that Shujinko has when you do Neutral K, although he doesn't stay on the screen for nearly as long as Shujinko might. But because he's standing, he can easily eat a hit of Kameo Lao hat or any other projectile. Another thought, since you can ambush from this, you can actually condition the opponent to be scared of it in general.

Shang's got a lot of things going for him even without Kameo like his consistent damage and fireball game and I think Tremor can allow you to attack the opponent in different ways that add to Shang's gameplay. The ambushes are 'expensive' and you can get yourself in bad spots if you use it the wrong time but I think you'll find yourself having a lot of options and some that are worth leaning into with Shang/Tremor.
I tried Shang/Tremor after not having played for like a month (IRL situations) and while I do agree with everything you've written, in practice it all feels so..janky? I don't know, I just have a lot of trouble making the most of the ambush mechanic Tremor has. It doesn't help that Shang has the (mis)fortune of being a solid character by himself, to the point where kameos don't necessarily give him an edge unless you pick one of the absolute top tiers.
 

xBlaze_13

Y NO CHAMELEON!?
Has anyone messed with Shang/Darrius after the recent patch? I've been kinda underwhelmed by Kameo options for Shang but Darrius might have some potential.

Being able to force a mix on all the little hits like Young F3, Old F32, B4, throw, or all the random non-hit confirmed ground skulls feels pretty nice, and the +50 health isn't bad either. Also, you can still make poke->special safe if you have to.

Still gotta test if you can reliably combo off his Armor or if the old overhead drop move is worth the damage drop to set up. But even that aside he feels like a solid boost to Shang's offense.
I gave this a shot before actually. I was struggling to consistently hit his forward kameo attack in a combo while still doing decent damage. I couldn't really make them work together well. I have not tried with the new buffs. However, I have been trying out Motaro. Being able to combo from triple skulls is pretty cool. I think this combo can work pretty well.
 

xBlaze_13

Y NO CHAMELEON!?
I think having old skulls makes it tougher for him to out spam you and if he's running Sub then he shouldn't be too scary of a character to play closer against
That's my go-to to counter zoning. But for reiko, once he gets those shurikens started, I always lose the trade.
 

LEGEND

YES!

First is getting the Overhead launcher set up. Only seems possible off of EX Ground skull. You drop about 10ish% for a 50/50 that does in the 30s though so overall worth it imo.


Darrius also lets you convert off of Old DB3 and Young DF2. For some reason the capture i made of Young DF2 is gone, but here is a clip of converting off of Old DB3. You can get a better interaction with Darrius than this that leads to much better damage (standard combo routes), but the timing is pretty strict.

a poorly executed concept for getting morph out safely.

Captured these while labbing after playing the team in a couple of online sets. Biggest takeway for me was how nice it is to get a reward for landing a back throw and locking people in place for a sec after an Old DB3 knockdown.

I found it hard to confirm some of the random hits into DK. So maybe its just better to mash DK after every possible F3, B4, 124 ect

If they are respecting the DK overhead you can go straight into F3 -> mid GS and the overhead will keep you safe.
 

LEGEND

YES!

Quick clip showing the two different hit interactions with Darrius DK. If done at the right time you can launch for a combo if Darrius hits first. This also works off of Old Shang's F3, enabling full combo 50/50s off of any knockdown up close. Again, I lost a recording after XBOX said it was clipped and even sent me a notification that it was uploaded. . . so i don't have the clip for the second part detailing the F3 launching after DK hits. i'll try to capture more tonight and show off a few more uses.
 

LEGEND

YES!
So I played a few more long sets yesterday and found that delayed wakeup and just mashing/jumping on wakup are pretty good options against the Darrius DK up close. This led me to do the F4 string like what's in this clip. You hit confirm if they are mashing, or block confirm and go into a mixup. The D4 -> GS is a hard commit though so it's risky, and going for F3 has too much of a gap. You can always just go let the DK go and use the + frames to go for a strike/throw.

Lots of options to consider, and for your opponent to account for.

This one is obvious, but you can jail into the Young Triple Skulls by using DK after the Old DB3 ender. I think this makes the effective damage some of the highest in the game for 1 Kameo bar and no meter.

If you delay it a bit you can get the DK to hit at the same time as the skulls for about 14% damage, but this gives them enough time to get out of the way of DK. Still a mix-up at that point at least.
 

Marinjuana

Up rock incoming, ETA 5 minutes
That's my go-to to counter zoning. But for reiko, once he gets those shurikens started, I always lose the trade.
He has to do way less work to outspam you but if you duck and do double fireball(which is way easier to do from duck then triple) then you will trade better. If you move closer, then your fireballs do more work or you can jump and get old man EX ground skull. I could use tips about Reiko/Sub though but patience is key
 

xBlaze_13

Y NO CHAMELEON!?
He has to do way less work to outspam you but if you duck and do double fireball(which is way easier to do from duck then triple) then you will trade better. If you move closer, then your fireballs do more work or you can jump and get old man EX ground skull. I could use tips about Reiko/Sub though but patience is key
I see, thank you. I'll start making more use of double fire balls.
 

LEGEND

YES!

Mostly settled into just doing what is in the clip above as layer 1. Once the opponent knows not to mash buttons or armor then they might sit still and hold your 50/50.

Planning to start recording/streaming once a week or so, so i should have actual gameplay and more clips coming.
 

G82Boost

I Play Raiden

Mostly settled into just doing what is in the clip above as layer 1. Once the opponent knows not to mash buttons or armor then they might sit still and hold your 50/50.

Planning to start recording/streaming once a week or so, so i should have actual gameplay and more clips coming.
thats tuff
 

G82Boost

I Play Raiden

Mostly settled into just doing what is in the clip above as layer 1. Once the opponent knows not to mash buttons or armor then they might sit still and hold your 50/50.

Planning to start recording/streaming once a week or so, so i should have actual gameplay and more clips coming.
you just gave me an idea